Cousin Pons, Honoré de Balzac [popular books of all time TXT] 📗

my mother that it was quite time that it should pass from the hands of vice into those of virtue."

The English lord looked at Mme. Camusot de Marville with an air of doubt not a little gratifying to so withered a woman.

"He used to dine at our house two or three times a week," she said; "he was so fond of us! We could appreciate him, and artists like the society of those who relish their wit. My husband was, besides, his one surviving relative. So when, quite unexpectedly, M. de Marville came into the property, M. le Comte preferred to take over the whole collection to save it from a sale by auction; and we ourselves much preferred to dispose of it in that way, for it would have been so painful to us to see the beautiful things, in which our dear cousin was so much interested, all scattered abroad. Elie Magus valued them, and in that way I became possessed of the cottage that your uncle built, and I hope you will do us the honor of coming to see us there."

Gaudissart's theatre passed into other hands a year ago, but M. Topinard is still the cashier. M. Topinard, however, has grown gloomy and misanthropic; he says little. People think that he has something on his conscience. Wags at the theatre suggest that his gloom dates from his marriage with Lolotte. Honest Topinard starts whenever he hears Fraisier's name mentioned. Some people may think it strange that the one nature worthy of Pons and Schmucke should be found on the third floor beneath the stage of a boulevard theatre.

Mme. Remonencq, much impressed with Mme. Fontaine's prediction, declines to retire to the country. She is still living in her splendid shop on the Boulevard de la Madeleine, but she is a widow now for the second time. Remonencq, in fact, by the terms of the marriage contract, settled the property upon the survivor, and left a little glass of vitriol about for his wife to drink by mistake; but his wife, with the very best intentions, put the glass elsewhere, and Remonencq swallowed the draught himself. The rascal's appropriate end vindicates Providence, as well as the chronicler of manners, who is sometimes accused of neglect on this head, perhaps because Providence has been so overworked by playwrights of late.


ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Baudoyer, Isidore
The Government Clerks
The Middle Classes

Berthier (Parisian notary)
Cousin Betty

Berthier, Madame
The Muse of the Department

Bixiou, Jean-Jacques
The Purse
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Government Clerks
Modeste Mignon
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Firm of Nucingen
The Muse of the Department
Cousin Betty
The Member for Arcis
Beatrix
A Man of Business
Gaudissart II.
The Unconscious Humorists

Braulard
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Cousin Betty

Brisetout, Heloise
Cousin Betty
The Middle Classes

Camusot
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Muse of the Department
Cesar Birotteau
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket

Camusot de Marville
Jealousies of a Country Town
The Commission in Lunacy
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Camusot de Marville, Madame
The Vendetta
Cesar Birotteau
Jealousies of a Country Town
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Cardot (Parisian notary)
The Muse of the Department
A Man of Business
Jealousies of a Country Town
Pierre Grassou
The Middle Classes

Chanor
Cousin Betty

Crevel, Celestin
Cesar Birotteau
Cousin Betty

Crottat, Alexandre
Cesar Birotteau
Colonel Chabert
A Start in Life
A Woman of Thirty

Desplein
The Atheist's Mass
Lost Illusions
The Thirteen
The Government Clerks
Pierrette
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Seamy Side of History
Modeste Mignon
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Honorine

Florent
Cousin Betty

Fontaine, Madame
The Unconscious Humorists

Gaudissart, Felix
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Cesar Birotteau
Honorine
Gaudissart the Great

Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie
Colonel Chabert
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Start in Life
The Commission in Lunacy
The Middle Classes

Godeschal, Marie
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Start in Life
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Gouraud, General, Baron
Pierrette

Graff, Wolfgang
Cousin Betty

Granville, Vicomte de (later Comte)
The Gondreville Mystery
Honorine
A Second Home
Farewell (Adieu)
Cesar Birotteau
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
A Daughter of Eve

Grassou, Pierre
Pierre Grassou
A Bachelor's Establishment
Cousin Betty
The Middle Classes

Hannequin, Leopold
Albert Savarus
Beatrix
Cousin Betty

Haudry (doctor)
Cesar Birotteau
The Thirteen
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Seamy Side of History

Lebrun (physician)
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Louchard
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Madeleine
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Magus, Elie
The Vendetta
A Marriage Settlement
A Bachelor's Establishment
Pierre Grassou

Matifat (wealthy druggist)
Cesar Birotteau
A Bachelor's Establishment
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Firm of Nucingen

Minard, Prudence
The Middle Classes

Pillerault, Claude-Joseph
Cesar Birotteau

Popinot, Anselme
Cesar Birotteau
Gaudissart the Great
Cousin Betty

Popinot, Madame Anselme
Cesar Birotteau
A Prince of Bohemia
Cousin Betty

Popinot, Vicomte
Cousin Betty

Rivet, Achille
Cousin Betty

Schmucke, Wilhelm
A Daughter of Eve
Ursule Mirouet
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Stevens, Dinah
A Marriage Settlement

Stidmann
Modeste Mignon
Beatrix
The Member for Arcis
Cousin Betty
The Unconscious Humorists

Thouvenin
Cesar Birotteau

Vinet
Pierrette
The Member for Arcis
The Middle Classes

Vinet, Olivier